The ASCAT-A winds have been unavailable on 10 December between 9:42 and 15:51 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly in the KNMI EUMETCast reception station.

29-May-2017

The ASCAT-A winds have been unavailable between 27 May 2:06 and 29 May 11:30 UTC sensing time due to an instrument anomaly.

14-May-2017

The ASCAT-A coastal winds have been unavailable between 13 May 22:33 and 14 May 2:18 UTC sensing time due to a ground segment anomaly.

18-Mar-2017

The ASCAT-A coastal winds have been unavailable on 18 March between 6:30 and 10:36 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly at KNMI.

08-Feb-2017

The ASCAT-A coastal winds have been unavailable on 8 February between 11:33 and 16:09 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly at KNMI.

25-Jan-2017

The ASCAT-A coastal winds have been unavailable and delayed on 25 January between 11:24 and 14:09 UTC sensing time due to a ground segment anomaly.

06-Jan-2017

The ASCAT-A 25 km winds have been unavailable on 6 January between 9:54 and 15:15 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly in the KNMI EUMETCast reception station.

04-Dec-2016

The ASCAT-A winds have been unavailable on between 3 December 19:54 and 4 December 1:30 UTC sensing time due to a spacecraft anomaly.

22-Sep-2016

The ASCAT-A coastal winds have been unavailable between 21 September 18:03 and 22 September 0:00 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly in the KNMI EUMETCast reception station.

18-Sep-2016

The ASCAT-A winds have been unavailable on 17 September between 11:33 and 17:57 UTC and between 17 September 19:30 and 18 September 14:15 UTC sensing time due to a power outage at KNMI.

22-Jul-2016

The ASCAT-A winds have been unavailable on 22 July between 0:21 and 10:11 UTC sensing time due to a spacecraft anomaly.

29-Mar-2016

The EARS 12.5 km wind products have been replaced by 12.5 km coastal wind products. ASCAT-A backscatter data correction to compensate for the instrument anomalies that occurred in autumn 2014. AWDP version is 2_4_01.

29-Mar-2016

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 27 March between 11:42 and 15:12 UTC sensing time due to an anomaly in the KNMI EUMETCast reception station.

05-Nov-2015

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 4 November between 10:54 and 16:12 UTC sensing time due to a Metop-A out of plane manoeuvre.

15-Oct-2015

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable between 14 October 23:36 and 15 October 2:54 UTC sensing time due to a ground segment anomaly.

14-Oct-2015

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 14 October between 11:30 and 16:42 UTC sensing time due to a Metop-A out of plane manoeuvre.

03-Jun-2014

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 2 June between 11:50 and 15:38 UTC sensing time due to a ground segment anomaly.

12-May-2014

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 12 May between 11:00 and 12:42 UTC sensing time due to a ground segment anomaly.

10-Apr-2014

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 9 April between 11:24 and 16:00 UTC sensing time due to a Metop-A out of plane manoeuvre.

27-Mar-2014

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 26 March between 10:36 and 15:03 UTC sensing time due to a Metop-A out of plane manoeuvre and an EPS ground segment anomaly.

Metop-A ASCAT data have been unavailable on 12 November from 11:42 to 16:48 UTC due to a satellite anomaly.

14-May-2013

AWDP version 2_2_00: preparation for level 1b data format change.

25-Apr-2013

No winds have been available between 24 April, 11:03 and 25 April, 0:47 UTC due to a data reception issue at KNMI.

21-Mar-2013

No winds have been available between 20 March, 12:27 and 21 March, 6:50 UTC due to a Metop out of plane manoeuvre.

06-Feb-2013

The ASCAT winds have been unavailable on 6 February between 1:45 and 5:09 UTC sensing time due to an issue with the KNMI EUMETCast reception station.

29-Nov-2012

The coastal wind product has been unavailable on 28 November, between 16:00 and 19:30 UTC sensing time due to a problem in the data connection between EUMETSAT and KNMI.

02-Oct-2012

The coastal wind product is available on the GTS now.

18-Sep-2012

AWDP version 2_1_01: implementation of Bayesian ice screening.

30-Jul-2012

The product monitoring flag was raised more often than usual in the ASCAT wind products in June and July. This is due to issues in the ice screening. As long as the appropriate flags are considered, the products can be used without restrictions.

02-Nov-2011

The ASCAT coastal wind product is available on EUMETCast with pre-operational status.

23-Oct-2011

Due to a Metop-A spontaneous payload switch-off, the ASCAT wind products have been unavailable between 22 October, 21:54 and 23 October, 15:45 UTC sensing time.

18-Oct-2011

The provision of ASCAT winds has been interrupted between 17 October 23:27 and 18 October 4:12 UTC sensing time due to a hardware problem at KNMI.

30-Sep-2011

Due to an issue in the level 1 backscatter data, no winds were available in the descending Metop passes between 29 September, 2:21 and 29 September 14:36 UTC.

29-Sep-2011

No winds have been available between 28 September, 11:36 and 29 September, 2:21 UTC due to a Metop out of plane manoeuvre.

05-Sep-2011

Due to an EUMETCast service interruption, the ASCAT winds have been unavailable between 4 September, 20:39 and 5 September, 2:42 UTC sensing time.

30-Aug-2011

The provision of ASCAT wind data has been delayed on 29 August, between 9:00 and 14:00 UTC due to a hardware problem at KNMI.

16-Aug-2011

AWDP version 2_1_00: up to four wind solutions present in the coastal BUFR products.

16-May-2011

ASCAT winds have been unavailable between 14 May, 10:51 and 16 May, 10:50 UTC due to an instrument anomaly.

27-Apr-2011

ASCAT coastal product is available with demonstrational status. AWDP version is 2_0_00.

05-Jan-2011

ASCAT winds had reduced quality (wind speed bias approx. 0.5 m/s) and have been temporarily unavailable due to a problem in the ASCAT on-board power gain between 3 January, 3:30 and 4 January, 15:15 UTC.

06-Oct-2010

No winds have been available between 5 October, 11:38 and 6 October, 5:12 UTC due to a MetOp out of plane manoeuvre.

12-May-2010

ASCAT coastal product is available with development status.

Description

The ASCAT Wind Product contains measurements of the wind direction and wind speed above the sea surface. The measurements are obtained through the processing of scatterometer data originating from the ASCAT instrument on EUMETSAT's Metop-A satellite, as described in the ASCAT Wind Product User Manual.

The processing is done in near-real time. From the sensing time of the last measurement in a product, it takes approximately 2 hours to get the corresponding wind product ready at KNMI.

The last 22 hours of data are shown in two separate plots showing ascending and descending tracks, respectively. This is done to avoid overlap of data in the pictures. Note that also data from previous days can be displayed using the link on the right hand side. The overview plots show color coded wind speed measurements. If you click somewhere in the satellite track, a picture appears showing the scatterometer winds in more detail.

Product monitoring information in near-real time is available through the corresponding link on the right hand side.

Note: This web site is not supported on a 24x7 basis and it should not be considered operational.

Access to products

This wind product is available in BUFR and NetCDF format. The BUFR data are disseminated through the EUMETCast system; for access please contact EUMETSAT. The products are also available on a password protected FTP server (products of the last three days only). Contact the KNMI OSI SAF team for access. The BUFR products are available on the Global Telecommunication System (GTS), as well. The messages are distributed to the Exeter node and can be identified by: header (T1T2A1A2ii) = ISXX[11-16]; CCCC = EHDB.

For a swift response management procedure, user requests on this scatterometer wind data product should be issued at the Ocean and Sea Ice SAF website.

Note: All intellectual property rights of the OSI SAF and EARS products belong to EUMETSAT. The use of these products is granted to every interested user, free of charge. If you wish to use these products, EUMETSAT's copyright credit must be shown by displaying the words "copyright (year) EUMETSAT" on each of the products used.

Acknowledgements

KNMI hosts the operational deployment of the global products as part of the EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF), a project by Météo France, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Danish Meteorological Institute, Ifremer and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

The processing software for the KNMI wind products is developed within the framework of the Numerical Weather Prediction Satellite Application Facility (NWP SAF) sponsored by EUMETSAT.